The case of San Diego Superior Court Judge Michael I. Greer, who cited ill health in retiring last week amid an ethics probe, has been referred to the State Bar for further investigation, an unusual turn in the long-running inquiry into charges that some San Diego judges received gifts from attorneys. In a press release issued Tuesday, the state Commission on Judicial Performance announced that it was referring Greer's case to the State Bar.

Napoleon A. Jones Jr. Judge in San Diego Scouts case Napoleon A. Jones Jr., 69, the federal judge who ruled in a San Diego case that the Boy Scouts were a religious group and couldn't lease city land, died Dec. 12 at his home in northern San Diego County after a long battle with prostate cancer, his wife, Rosalyn, said. In 2003, Jones found that San Diego acted improperly in leasing land to the Boy Scouts, an organization that bars gay leaders and requires members to swear an oath to God. Jones found that the leases violated the separation of church and state.

Federal prosecutors said that Monday they will appeal a magistrate's decision to allow an ousted judge to have a publicly paid lawyer defend him against criminal charges of bribery. G. Dennis Adams, indicted in a judicial corruption scandal, is being represented by a public defender even though his wife is a judge who makes $107,390 a year and has a substantial investment portfolio. Adams and Superior Court Judge Barbara T.

A federal bankruptcy judge on Monday ordered three lawyers and two priests from the local Catholic diocese to explain why they should not be held in contempt for allegedly moving to transfer money as well as other actions that were prohibited while the diocese's bankruptcy case is pending. Judge Louise DeCarl Adler ordered the lawyers and priests to appear in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Wednesday to explain their actions.

The defendants are pillars of the local legal establishment, with long ties to the community and lots of friends in high places. Their accusers, for the most part, are outsiders, newly arrived from out of town and still eyed with some suspicion by the clubby San Diegans. For 18 months, while federal prosecutors and FBI agents probed the illicit links between three former San Diego judges and a prominent trial attorney, there had been sub rosa grumbling among other judges and lawyers.

In a highly unusual example of judicial activism, a San Diego judge has issued an order allowing county authorities to compel AIDS testing of newborns deemed to be at risk for the disease. Without a case or a court hearing or even litigants, Napoleon Jones, the presiding judge of the San Diego Juvenile Court, quietly issued the directive several months ago, calling it a "general order," court records indicate.

Prominent businessman Richard T. Silberman vanished from San Diego last week after he became convinced that a federal judge presiding over his upcoming money-laundering case "was against him and unfair," his defense attorney charged Sunday.

In a subdued voice that differed markedly from the one he used as the most powerful judge on the San Diego Superior Court, Michael Greer testified Thursday that he and two other judges took gifts and favors from a flamboyant trial attorney and then secretly helped him win his multimillion-dollar cases. Greer, 62, once known for his booming voice and commanding manner from the bench, looked pale and drawn as he provided what federal prosecutors hope will be the key evidence against ex-judges G.

In a rare move, the state Commission on Judicial Performance recommended Tuesday that San Diego County Superior Court Judge G. Dennis Adams be removed from office for "willful misconduct," including accepting gifts from a car dealer and the man's attorney three years after awarding the dealer $5 million in a non-jury civil trial.

The City of San Diego has been denied permission to intervene in the court fight over where, when and how the next America's Cup yacht race will be held. The city had asked to become a party to the suit so it could appeal a ruling that directed the San Diego Yacht Club to accept an unusual challenge by a New Zealand group, the Mercury Bay Boating Club.

SAN DIEGO -- Superior Court Judge Bonnie Dumanis was declared the victor Tuesday in her fight to unseat Dist. Atty. Paul Pfingst after one of the closest and nastiest election battles in county history. After absentee and provisional ballots were counted, Dumanis had 50.3% of the vote to Pfingst's 49.6%. Dumanis becomes the first female district attorney in county history and, according to a national gay political action committee, the first openly gay district attorney in the nation.

U.S. District Court judges here, burdened with the nation's highest federal caseload, have declared a "judicial emergency" after Congress rejected their plea to include money for more judges in a spending bill sent to President Clinton. Chief Judge Marilyn L. Huff said Tuesday that she and seven colleagues are searching for ways to streamline handling of civil and criminal cases to prevent the courts from becoming paralyzed or cases from being summarily dismissed.

Edward J. Schwartz, 87, a federal judge who campaigned to increase the number of district judges in San Diego County and later presided over the district, died Wednesday. Born in Seattle, Schwartz spent much of his early life in San Diego, attending a kindergarten on the site of the present federal courthouse, which was named for him in 1994. He graduated from UC Berkeley with a bachelor's degree in English literature and earned his law degree from San Francisco Law School in 1939.

There are times when our most cherished liberties hinge on such weighty questions as this: Does a man in a chicken suit have the right to mock one dressed as a TV dinosaur? This is such a time. And the call goes to the chicken.

If San Diego falters in its drive to expand its stadium, the NFL is ready to shift the 1998 Super Bowl to the Rose Bowl, NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue told civic boosters here Monday. "We are talking to the Rose Bowl on a contingency basis as we speak," Tagliabue said at a luncheon meeting of business and political leaders. "I hope this stays a contingency plan. We want to play the game here.

In a subdued voice that differed markedly from the one he used as the most powerful judge on the San Diego Superior Court, Michael Greer testified Thursday that he and two other judges took gifts and favors from a flamboyant trial attorney and then secretly helped him win his multimillion-dollar cases. Greer, 62, once known for his booming voice and commanding manner from the bench, looked pale and drawn as he provided what federal prosecutors hope will be the key evidence against ex-judges G.

Edward J. Schwartz, 87, a federal judge who campaigned to increase the number of district judges in San Diego County and later presided over the district, died Wednesday. Born in Seattle, Schwartz spent much of his early life in San Diego, attending a kindergarten on the site of the present federal courthouse, which was named for him in 1994. He graduated from UC Berkeley with a bachelor's degree in English literature and earned his law degree from San Francisco Law School in 1939.

A federal bankruptcy judge on Monday ordered three lawyers and two priests from the local Catholic diocese to explain why they should not be held in contempt for allegedly moving to transfer money as well as other actions that were prohibited while the diocese's bankruptcy case is pending. Judge Louise DeCarl Adler ordered the lawyers and priests to appear in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Wednesday to explain their actions.

Federal prosecutors said that Monday they will appeal a magistrate's decision to allow an ousted judge to have a publicly paid lawyer defend him against criminal charges of bribery. G. Dennis Adams, indicted in a judicial corruption scandal, is being represented by a public defender even though his wife is a judge who makes $107,390 a year and has a substantial investment portfolio. Adams and Superior Court Judge Barbara T.

The defendants are pillars of the local legal establishment, with long ties to the community and lots of friends in high places. Their accusers, for the most part, are outsiders, newly arrived from out of town and still eyed with some suspicion by the clubby San Diegans. For 18 months, while federal prosecutors and FBI agents probed the illicit links between three former San Diego judges and a prominent trial attorney, there had been sub rosa grumbling among other judges and lawyers.